Quote Originally Posted by TISS View Post
no-one wants to use nuclear weapons. it is the deterrent that if someone attacks us they also have a few warheads sent their way. its the concept of MAD - they won't attack us first as they know they will also be nuked. We won't attack because we don't have a first strike policy.

if we tell everyone we won#t strike back then we become a sitting duck. Whilst it doesn't matter whether we strike back or not because we won't care as we will be dead, having the threat of retaliation ensures we don't get nuked in the first place.

it really is quite straight forward
What if everybody knows that we have to ask the USA for permission before we launch a first or second strike? Trident seems to be nothing more than a token guesture, and meaningless in the grand scheme of things.